


We'll See About That

by ironikolai



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A rewrite for a friend, Gen, Gryffindor Common Room, How the Map was Made, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Moony - Freeform, My old one is still up to read and shit on, One Shot, Padfoot - Freeform, Pre-Betrayal, Prongs - Freeform, Short One Shot, Snivellus - Freeform, Swearing, The Marauders - Freeform, The Marauders Map - Freeform, Wormtail - Freeform, implied wolfstar, kinda fluffy i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23368603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironikolai/pseuds/ironikolai
Summary: Mid-O.W.Ls season in fifth year, the Marauders have a late night working on the Map, which seems determined to remain a useless piece of parchment. They're all out of spells and all out of options.So how is it that the Marauders really put together the Marauder's Map, and did it take a lot of Mischief to Manage the production of such a Map?A sleepy one-shot featuring pyjamas and pastry and fair amount of foul language.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, wolfstar - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	We'll See About That

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Genderless_Deity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genderless_Deity/gifts).



The Common Room was quiet that night. With O.W.L exams in full swing and McGonagall now militant about everyone getting early nights, the majority of students typically turned in not long after the feast. The fire crackled in the hearth, casting an amber glow across the tapestries and the slumbering faces in the portraits. Other than the faint snapping of the logs in the heat, the only sound was the murmurs of the Marauders, hunched over a crumpled piece of parchment.

Each wore an expression of disgruntlement, though in varying degrees. Peter was relatively apathetic and covered in pumpkin pasty crumbs. He’d quietly given up on the Map about a half-hour before when his last lot of charms proved fruitless. James and Sirius, sprawled in chairs opposite each other in matching sets of snitch-print pyjamas, were moderately irked. James was transfiguring a packet of Drooble's into dice and back again, chin resting on his fist. Sirius was combing his fingers through Remus’ hair. The latter wore the most displeased expression of the bunch. Curled in Sirius’ lap, wearing outgrown pyjamas that barely scraped his mid-calf, the coffee clutched in his hands seemed to offer little relief. His eyes, slate-green and ringed with bruises from many sleepless nights, scanned the parchment with nothing less than disdain.

“God, I hate this bloody thing,” muttered Remus.

“It is the most ambitious magic we’ve ever attempted. We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Peter. “Fifth-year magic might not cut it.” Swatting the crumbs on his dressing gown, he pushed the parchment further away from him.

James grabbed a pasty from their stash on the table and spread-eagled himself over the chair again. “We’ve kinda tried everything, Pete. I think we’ve come to figure out that much.”

“We just haven’t tried enough, otherwise this piece of fucking parchment would work already, wouldn’t it?”

“Alright, we get it. This is a bust.” Remus had finally spoken, his voice irritable and cracked. With the full moon only days away and the wolf stirring under the surface, his temper was forever flaring. It had been nearly impossible to get a word out of him and what little he’d said all day had been curt. “But, Pete, unless you become a bloody genius in a day and make up some more useful spells, we can’t do shit, can we?”

Flushing red, Peter slumped back in his seat with a frown, refusing to look up from his hands.

“Don’t be a dick, Moony. Pete’s been a tonne of help,” said Sirius with a frown, extricating his hands from Remus’ hair. Instead, he turned his attention to picking dirt from under his nails. “You do have a point though, even if you were a knobhead about it. We _don’t_ have the right spells, especially not as fifth years. Hell, the right spells probably don’t even exist. If they do, then they’re either illegal or in the restricted section and with O.W.Ls going on, Madam Pince is breathing down everyone’s neck in the Library. We couldn’t get close enough to even see the Restricted Section without her knowing something was missing, even with the cloak.”

James sighed uncomfortably and flicked a crumb across the table at Sirius. "Don't be a downer. We've covered that much already, Pads."

“No, he’s being realistic, not a downer,” replied Peter quietly. “We have to consider that maybe the Map just isn’t going to happen. Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to abandon something a little too ambitious. So, unless one of you has a miracle tucked up your robes, I suggest we shut up about it.”

They all fell silent. It was like that for a few minutes. As a group, they’d been working on the Map for months. Between Peter, Sirius, and James, it had been a rough concept for years. Ever since they’d found out about Remus’ lycanthropy, they’d been trying to find a way to help. Becoming animagi had made it easier but the journey to the Shrieking Shack every full moon had almost gotten them caught several times. With Remus’ transformations becoming worse as time passed, the thought of getting caught and leaving him alone was unbearable for the others.

Suddenly, James leapt up with such urgency that Peter squealed and fell from his chair. “That's it!”

“What's _it_?”

“Let me finish, Wormy. I just had a brilliant idea,” crowed James, wafting his hand at Peter in a ‘be quiet’ manner.

“An odd concept for you really, Prongs,” Remus muttered sarcastically. James hurled a pillow at him before seizing the Map with vigour. Considering how much they’d abused that parchment in recent weeks, it was surprising the thing still held together.

“We _don't_ have the right spells, and may never will-“

“Merlin's beard Prongs, we've been over this-” Sirius growled, flinging his head back over the back of his chair.

“- so we create them!” James exclaimed, slamming the Map back down on the table. His black hair was wild and messy as ever, hazel eyes twinkling mischievously behind thin square spectacles.

The hubbub fell silent. All three boys stared at James with a dumbfounded look, as if he’d suggested setting his own hair on fire. Judging from the state of it, that wouldn’t be a difficult task.

Sirius was the first to speak. “Are you serious?”

“No, you are, you daft tit. And he’s lost it. Make our _own_ \- do you have a death wish?” exclaimed Remus, eyes wide.

Peter shook his head. “Prongs, that's out of the question. It’s… it’s illegal-”

“And? Snape did it. That blood distorted Severing charm, remember? And I’ve got the scar to prove it!”

Sirius laughed sarcastically. “Because fucking _Snivellus_ is suddenly the beacon of inspiration that we aspire to.”

“Of course not, but he did it, didn’t he?”

Remus threw his hands up in exasperation. “This isn’t a fucking recipe, Prongs. This is stuff we haven’t even considered. Dangerous stuff. Snape having – what, dumb luck? – doesn’t mean you can throw shit together and hope it doesn’t blow up in your face.”

“Moony, you literally did that in your Potions O.W.L.”

“That's comforting Pads, he failed that exam,” muttered Peter.

Tugging on the ends of his hair, Remus growled in frustration. The flickering firelight snagged on the raised ridges of the scars that marked his exposed skin, causing them to shimmer almost silver. They were twisted and ragged, old and new, and grotesque all the same. The exhaustion in his voice when he replied was gutting. “Why don't you _understand_? This is nothing like what Snape did. At least he had pre-existing spells to base Sectumsempra or whatever it was called off. What we’re talking about is multi-layering volatile, homebrew spells to animate a highly illegal Map. In no way is this like Snape. Any spells like what we need were banned or destroyed completely like Sirius said. What you’re proposing is beyond stupid.”

At that, Sirius grinned. It wasn’t the grin he used in public, the one that snagged all the girls’ attention and infuriated the professors. It was his infamous Marauder grin, almost vicious in the unbridled mischief that it encouraged. Upon seeing it, Peter and James perked up, smiling along at the realisation that their cunning Padfoot had figured something out. Even Remus brightened.

“What is it, Padfoot?” asked James excitedly.

Clasping his hands behind his head with a triumphant look, he looked at each of them in turn. “Well, lads-”

Peter leaned forwards eagerly, slapping the table with his hand impatiently. “G’won Pads. Don’t tease. Let us have it.”

“Completely destroyed you say, Moony? Perhaps not,” Sirius said wickedly, a sharp-toothed grin once again overtaking his angular features. “The _Noble and Moste Anciente House of Black_ is, after all, Black to its core. Destroyed completely or ridiculously illegal? Hah, we’ll see about that.”

**Author's Note:**

> I said I'd rewrite it Alex, didn't I? ;) 
> 
> \- Nikolai


End file.
